This invention relates generally to rolling mills serially arranged on a rolling line to roll a steel stock, such as steel wire rod, or steel bar, in a successive fashion and more particularly to stock guides usable at the entrance of such rolling mills to guide the stock into engagement with the mill rolls. Specifically, the present invention is concerned with roller type entrance guides for properly directing the stock to be rolled into the roll groove of the associated rolling mill and more particularly with means for adjusting and setting the stock restraining effect of the guide rollers.
In general, entrance roller guides includes a guide box arranged on the rolling line, a pair of roller holders pivotally supported on the guide box by means of a pair of vertically extending fulcrum pins secured to the guide box on the opposite sides of the rolling line, and right and left guide rollers mounted on the forward ends of the respective roller holders in positions close to the associated roll entrance to guide the stock into the latter. The distance between the guide rollers is adjustable by rocking the roller holders laterally in opposite directions and symmetrically with respect to the line of roll pass.
Several forms of roller holder control, used to adjust the distance between the guide rollers, are known and, among others, the device of German Pat. No. 1,048,251 is most advanced. In the roller distance adjusting mechanism, incorporated in the roller guide of the German patent, a tensing spring is arranged between the pair of roller holders to normally bias the rear end portions thereof inwardly toward each other and a cylindrical shaped nut, formed with righthand and lefthand internal screw-threads, is supported between the rear end portions of the roller holders on a horizontal axis normal to the rolling line and is held against axial movement. Also, externally threaded movable members are threadably engaged with the respective sections of the cylindrical nut which are formed with righthand and lefthand internal threads, respectively, and are held between the inwardly spring-biased roller holders in abutting engagement with respective pivot pins provided thereon in aligned relation to each other. With this arrangement, the distance between the guide rollers mounted on the respective roller holders is adjustable simply by turning the cylindrical nut about its own axis thereby to move the externally threaded members axially in opposite directions.
On the other hand, work personnel in the vicinity of the rolling mills, arranged along a rolling line, and the stock guides arranged therebetween are generally under extremely severe and dangerous work conditions including the splashing of cooling water and other rigorous operating conditions. This makes it practically impossible, during operation of the rolling line, to manually turn the cylindrical nut as required to adjust the distance between the guide rollers. Under this situation, it is highly desirable to realize a guide adjusting device which is capable of manually adjusting the distance between the guide rollers or the stock restraining effect thereof to any desired extent in a simple manner.